June, 1912 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



141 



does well in cold storage, especially if 

 it is well colored and stored promptly. 

 Always with that provison. In the fall 

 of 1910 I procured twenty boxes from 

 Mr. W. H. Bunting for the exhibition 



which was held in London in 191 1. They 

 were in perfect condition when shipped 

 from Montrea! in April last, and were 

 reported as having kept exceedingly well 

 several weeks later. 



Cultivation and Size of Fruit 



F. E. Ellis, B. S.A., Peterborough Co., Ont. 



THERE is an intimate relationship 

 between the amount of cultivation 

 that we give our apple orchards and 

 the size of fruit. Good size for the vari- 

 ety is an essential quality in a first-class 

 apple that will produce "Fancy" or "No. 

 I." And this is the class that we are ;ill 

 aiming to produce. Mr. John Beemer cf 

 Brant Co., Ont., whose orchard we vis- 

 ited last summer, unwittingly performed 

 an experiment that shows with remark- 

 able clearness the relationship between 

 size of fruit and orchard cultivation. 



Mr. Beemer's regular orchard prac- 

 tice is to cultivate intensively until July, 

 and then seed to a cover crop of clover, 

 which is plowed down the following 

 spring. Last spring, however, Mr. 

 Beemer undertook to spray several orch- 

 ards beside his own and was kept 10 

 busy that the cover crop was not plowed 

 down in part of his own orchard, and at 

 the time of our visit, on the first of July, 

 there was a rank growth of clover in one- 

 half of the orchard while the other halt 

 was being cultivated as usual. 



The applies on the trees in the culti- 

 vated portion were more than twice the 

 size of those on the adjoining trees that 

 were surrounded by cover crops. "The 

 explanation," said Mr. Beemer, "is 

 easy. That rank growth of clover has 

 been robbing the trees of both moisture 

 and easily available soil fertility ever 

 since growth started. The food that 

 should be devoted to producing me .i 

 good crop of apples is being used to pro- 

 duce a good crop of clover that will sim- 

 ply be plowed under." 



LESS FRUIT SETS 



Another serious loss that is almost 

 sure to follow, will be a smaller setting 

 of fruit the following spring. It is in 

 the spring of the year that the fruit buds 

 that determine the next year's crop are 

 developed. Having the orchard in sod, 

 or allowing the cover crop to grow ;is 

 Mr. Beemer did, will interfere with the 

 proper setting of fruit buds. 



We believe in orchard cultivation. One 

 cannot cultivate the orchard too fre- 

 quently up to the first of July but after 



that, cultivation will be a detriment. It 

 is then well to sow the cover crop in or- 

 der that the fruit may mature and de- 

 velop a good color. The cover crop fy 

 robbing the tree of moisture will ilso 

 tend to harden' up the wood to withstand 

 the cold of winter. 



There may be some soils that are so 

 dry that cultivation the year round iS 

 advisable. On other soils unusually ricn 

 or moist it may be well to leave the or- 

 chard in sod for a few years. But with 

 the most of us intensive cultivation in the 

 early part of the summer, followed by a 

 cover crop, will give us the best quality 

 and the largest sized fruit. 



A Three Yeetr Old Dorothy Perkins Roie Grown by Mr.Hornihaw,40 Simpton Ave., Toronto, Ont. 



Sweet Pea Culture 



W. T. Macoun. Ottawa, Ont. 



As soon as sweet peas are well up 

 they should be staked or trellised. Wire 

 netting is quite satisfactory, and as 

 it can be obtained much easier by 

 city p>eople than brush, it is most com- 

 monly used. Brush is unsightly, in our 

 judgment, reminding one for a long time 

 before covered with the vines of dead 

 branches which should be removed. The 

 trellis or brush should be at least six feet 

 high, and if the soil is rich nine feet or 

 more will be found necessary. 



Sweet peas usually require little or 

 no watering until they begin to bloom . 

 In Ottawa where nearly every one has 

 a hose and nozzle, and where holding 

 these helps to keep one cool on a sum- 

 mer's night, I fear that too frequent 

 watering is the rule, with the result that 

 the plants are made soft and when condi- 

 tions are favourable disease attacks 

 them, or in other cases where the ground 

 is very rich they run too much to vine. 

 When sweet peas begin to flower they 

 need an abundant supply of water, but 

 it should be judiciously given. 



The farmer and market gardener cul- 

 tivates his soil in order to conserve mois- 

 ture and let air into the soil and he gets 

 luxurious growth without any artificial 

 watering. In many cases the keeping of 

 the surface soil loose on each side of the 

 row of sweet peas will conserve sufficient 

 moisture until well on in the summer 

 without watering. Even when water- 

 ing is done it is desirable to loosen the 

 surface .soil afterwards, as the roots of 

 the plants require air as well as moisture. 



WATEK IN A THENCH 



In order to keep the stem of the plant 

 hard, so that it may resist disease in the 

 ground, we recommend watering in a 

 trench about six inches away from the 

 plants. The water soaks down, cooling 

 and moistening the lower depths of the 

 soil but leaving the surface of the soil 

 about the stems fairly dry. 



On some soils a very important assist- 

 ance in the conservation of moisture and 

 cooling of the soils is the mulch. This 

 may be altogether of lawn, or, better 



